Early scans reveal a pre-industrial society, but also, curiously, low-level neutrino emissions. Hoshi Sato remarks that there are numerous languages being spoken on the planet, but that she's found at least one useful word: Akaali, the name of the planet's humanoid species. While T'Pol objects to sending an away team, mentioning the Vulcan protocol of waiting until a species has managed warp flight before making first contact, Archer is determined to investigate firsthand. After using sensors to get a closer look at the planet and its people, Phlox performs cosmetic surgery to disguise an away team consisting of Archer, Trip Tucker, T'Pol, and Sato.

On the planet's surface, Archer and Tucker manage to localize the source of the neutrinos; a shop owned by an antique collector. On the streets nearby, they see various people covered in lesions. Breaking into the shop at night, Archer and Tucker are confronted by an Akaali who has been watching the shop for some time. She believes Archer and Tucker to be in league with whoever owns the shop and that they have caused a disease among the Akaali. T'pol stuns the Akaali woman before she fires a loaded crossbow.

The next morning, the Akaali woman wakes up to see Archer watching over her. They discuss the situation on the planet, and she reveals her name to be Riann. She believes it is not coincidence that the shop owner arrived two months ago and that people have only become sick in that period.

Archer and Tucker later return to the shop. Upon scanning the owner, they discover he is not Akaali but a different species. He then asks Archer who he is, as he too must not be native judging by his scanning technology. The owner's name is Garos, a Malurian, and he relates the story of being on a survey mission in the area before he decided to settle down on the planet. The source of the neutrinos is Garros' antimatter reactor, but he assures Archer that it is simply to replicate food and materials. Tucker and Archer are then asked to leave before they can question him further.

Taking some of Riann's samples of the "disease" back to Enterprise, Doctor Phlox discovers that the water supply is contaminated due to leaks of tetracyanate 622, an industrial lubricant, into the environment. The Malurians were using the antimatter reactor to gather a kind of veridiumisotope they most likely used to make weapons.

At night, Archer and Riann spy on the shop. At one point, Archer's translator malfunctions. To prevent Riann from suspecting he is not Akaali, he kisses her. Shortly after, they follow a man who is taking crates from the shop. In a clearing in the woods, a Malurian shuttle tractors the crates aboard. Unfortunately, Archer and Riann are seen and fired upon by a Malurian on the surface. Stunning him, Archer takes a small device from him. They return to the city and using the Malurian device, manage to gain access to the reactor. Archer disables a dampening field which allows Enterprise to get a transporter lock on the reactor before beaming it into space and destroying it, disabling Garros' ship in the process. Archer instructs Garros to leave the planet, which he reluctantly does.

Before leaving, Archer shares a moment with Riann, giving her the required treatment for anyone affected by the toxin, and explaining that it would be best if she kept everything that happened to herself. Before leaving, the two kiss, with Riann teasing that it's because his translator has malfunctioned again.

Log entries

"Captain's starlog, July 31, 2151. We've removed the mining equipment from under the shop. As far as we can tell, none of the Akaali knows what really happened... with one exception."

Memorable quotes

"Starfleet could've sent a probe out here to make maps and take pictures, but they didn't. They sent us so that we could explore with our own senses."

"Have you ever seen anything like that?"
"Actually, I have..." (A gun blast hits a tree before he can elaborate)

- Riann and Archer

"Is there anything else that you'd like to tell me, Jon?"

- Riann, realizing that Archer and the Malurian were not Akaali

"Even if we get the reactor, how are gonna keep them from getting it back?"
"If they want it so badly, perhaps we should give it to them."

- Hoshi and T'Pol

"The oil lamp...there should be least a liter of residic oil in the container below it. Residic oil ignites at 398 degrees - you wouldn't happen to have anything that gets that hot?"

- Riann

Background information

The Malurians were originally mentioned in TOS: "The Changeling", as a species wiped out by Nomad. Mike Sussman saw their incorporation here as an amusing in-joke. "[I]t was like, 'Wouldn't it be great to see these guys?' So we made them the bad guys in 'Civilization,' the green lizard guys – they get their comeuppance a hundred years from now!" [1]

This episode originally included more fisticuffs, involving Archer actor Scott Bakula, than are ultimately in the outing. "We had this fight between him and some alien, and Archer beats the crap out of him," explained stunt coordinator Vince Deadrick, Jr.. "For the finale, I had him do a bevy of punches, saying, 'because you're pissed off.' And he didn't really want me to be the one to tell him that he was pissed off. He said, 'I think I would eliminate one of these punches,' because he was getting into that Archer frame of mind. Archer was still pissed of, but Scott had a different take about it. So we met there, and that's the communication [between actor and stunt coordinator]. Which is good." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 138, p. 43)

T'Pol makes reference to a protocol which states that it is wise "...to wait until a society develops warp drive before initiating first contact...". She goes on to say that it would be wise for Starfleet to adopt these "Vulcan protocols." Starfleet later adopts them as part of the Prime Directive, serving as a benchmark for measuring development of a civilization and admission to the Federation.

This episode contains the first reference to Tellarites in the series.

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